The Game

After waiting two weeks for one of America’s most celebrated pastimes, fans tuned in to watch the 50th annual Super Bowl last Sunday. The storylines that surrounded this game were almost as intriguing as the game itself. Questions like “Will this be the last time we see Peyton Manning on the field?” and “Can Cam Newton end his almost perfect season by dismantling the No. 1 ranked defense in the NFL?” filled most sports sections.

Unfortunately, the games did not live up to the hype the media created.

In what was one of the more banal Super Bowl games in recent memory, the Denver defense looked unstoppable from kickoff. The Panther’s team that lost one regular season game didn’t show up. Carolina’s offense fumbled three times while quarterback Cam Newton added an interception to widen the turnover margin. “Super Cam” never seemed to get into a groove and overthrew his receivers on 10 different instances. However, he shouldn’t shoulder the entire loss. Newton was knocked around the whole night, as his offensive line couldn’t control Denver’s pass rush. Carolina’s receiving core was one of the worst groups in the league, and it showed Sunday as they dropped multiple passes throughout the night.

Denver’s offense wasn’t putting on a show either. While he had flashes of genius during the game, Manning showed he is not the same dynamic player he once was. He threw for a meager 141 passing yards with no touchdowns and an interception.  The Broncos didn’t have anyone that recorded 100 yards receiving or on the ground. They also were inefficient on third down. Denver went 1-14 on third down, which would normally be detrimental to any team competing for a Super Bowl.

Besides Denver’s defensive fumble recovery for a touchdown early in the first quarter, there weren’t any electrifying scoring plays. The majority of the game was both offenses going three and out, and punting the ball back to their opponents. It was like watching high school football except with tens of thousands of people in the stands.

Super Bowl 50 was like watching last year’s boxing match featuring Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. People were expecting Newton to singlehandedly go tit for tat against the defensive juggernaut Bronco, in the way the offensive-minded Pacquiao was supposed to take on Mayweather. In both instances, both events came up short in entertaining the fans.

Halftime

Whoever thought it was a good idea to have a fading band like Coldplay perform with two of the most recognized performers in modern pop music should be fired and change their career choice. Coldplay frontman Chris Martin has always been an awkward performer. He does this odd movement onstage where he awkwardly bops up and down throughout his performances. He displayed that last Sunday only to be overshadowed by the exuberant dancing of Bruno Mars and Beyonce. Coldplay has gained a lot of their success through ballads and softer tempos. People do not want to hear that at the Super Bowl. This is why Mars did so well last year, as he showed the fans why his high energy is often compared to Michael Jackson and James Brown. But this performance was neither Martin’s or Mars’. Beyonce released her new song “Formation” a day before the Super Bowl and did an excellent job performing it during halftime. She almost fell at one point before catching herself while doing a dance off with Mars, but other than that her performance was flawless. The one good thing coming out of Coldplay playing at the Super Bowl was the overflow of memes mocking the band. Martin gave us another reason why most of us have forgotten about his once respected band.